Tag Archives: hermann broch

Playing with memes and avoiding the minefield of sensationalism, and new variants on the theme of pornography, which seems to be the antithesis of magic and at least something surprising, compelling and not entirely comprehensible. [Kitsch] is perhaps most clearly … Continue reading →

Period pieces. Toby Tyler, circa 1890 and chockablock with tried and tested cliches which work pretty well, even by today’s standards. Toby Tyler, an orphan, and Disney is really the patron saint of orphans, who lives with a crosspatch uncle … Continue reading →

Quarrels, separation, arguments, spats, plenty of yelling and screaming, sobbing and tears. The male artist and the nude has, as defined by modernism and then post-modernism, a contrapuntal relationship for the most part; the discordant seeking to resolve issues in … Continue reading →

The intimate relationship between sex and death carried to the extremes of excess as only the Russian characters seems uniquely equipped to articulate. The secret erotic room of Catherine the Great as urban legend or in fact proof of decadence … Continue reading →

Hard to believe people are willing to invest so deeply in art that is almost bereft of any importance. Strictly a commodity with exchange value? Perhaps. Clement Greenberg was likely too harsh on Repin, although he was correct in questioning … Continue reading →

It always strives to please. Pleasing and self-congatulating as a ready-made. Kitsch. The inevitable feature of an art in which too much money and desire is chasing too little taste and knowledge. If Kitsch is like the common cold, impossible … Continue reading →

Vanity is usually pretty revolting. An auto-glorification. narcissism. But as a minor saving grace, it can aspire to a certain honesty. But, for some reason, the relationship between vanity and worshiping money remains an enduring legacy, as if the power … Continue reading →

It always seems to arouse the public ire when publicity depicts the sexualization of children, especially in the most flagrant of cases. However, the problem is so deeply rooted, its almost exceptional that the egregious cases are relatively minimalized. Looking … Continue reading →

The imperial infants.A baby formula, pablum, to convert sometimes vague, sometimes intense, but always complex emotions into a kind of trouble-free zone, a la-la land of pretend. Kitsch. The temptation. The seduction of idealized desire; to replace a higher and … Continue reading →